Lockheed Martin's latest executive change raises concerns about community support

December 2, 2012|By Richard Burnett, Orlando Sentinel

After decades with division presidents at the helm of its Orlando-area operations, Lockheed Martin Corp. will eliminate the last president standing at the end of this month, a move some local philanthropic experts say could undermine the company's far-reaching support for groups and causes in the region.

Lockheed is set to downgrade the top executive post at its Orlando-based training-simulation unit to vice president as part of a larger corporate restructuring aimed at helping the nation's largest defense contractor deal with cutbacks in U.S. military spending.

It is the third time in seven years that the industry giant has reduced the status of its local leadership: In 2005, it dissolved the president-level job at its Orlando Missiles & Fire Control unit, and in 2008 it moved the job of chief information officer from its Orlando computer-systems operation to company headquarters in Bethesda, Md.

Lockheed says it is as committed as ever to Central Florida. Denise Saiki, the soon-to-be former president of the training-simulation unit, said last week she will continue as the operation's top manager and will remain involved in the community. Saiki is on the board of both the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission and Orlando-based Enterprise Florida, the state's public-private economic-development arm.

Still, there is always some local fallout when a big corporate player moves its executive decision-making authority elsewhere, said Mark Brewer, chief executive officer of the Community Foundation of Central Florida, a prominent philanthropic organization based in Orlando.

"History has shown us, whenever you lose a senior executive position from any company, it has an impact on the community at large," Brewer said. "It is a 'social capital' issue. If you don't have the senior executives on the ground, connected to community groups, then it usually means financial support is going to decline."

Saiki noted that Lockheed has invested millions of dollars in local science-education programs, has thousands of workers who volunteer with local nonprofits groups, has more than 50 executives serving on local boards, and boasts the area's third-largest United Way campaign — totaling more than $1 million in 2012.

"Being involved in the region is of the highest importance to us," she said. "The company has been here 56 years, through all different periods of defense spending, and we are clearly committed to the Orlando area — all three businesses that we operate here. We're here to stay."

Still, according to recent interviews with various nonprofit groups in the region, the company's financial contribution to the arts in Central Florida has fallen in recent years as Lockheed's local leadership has changed.

For example, the company was a founding trustee years ago of United Arts of Central Florida, a United-Way-like agency for local arts organizations. But it no longer has a representative on the group's board of directors, and its annual United Arts gift, which at one point exceeded $250,000, has fallen to $50,000, according to the group's website.

There's no Lockheed official on the board of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, either, and the company's annual support — once more than $100,000 — has dwindled to $10,000 this year, though it remains a sponsor of the orchestra's youth concerts.

Brewer's foundation group, which includes arts groups among its beneficiaries, was co-founded by Lockheed's Joseph Cleveland, who oversaw the Orlando computer-systems unit as the parent corporation's chief information officer. But when Cleveland retired in 2008, the CIO's job was moved to Bethesda, and Lockheed's financial support of the foundation has since dried up, Brewer said.

It's no coincidence that Lockheed's declining support for the arts has coincided with the downgrading of its local leadership, said Elaine Hinsdale, a former public relations executive for Lockheed's Orlando computer-systems unit. Hinsdale sat on United Arts' board for more than a decade and managed one of Lockheed's corporate-giving budgets.

"Without active and visible community involvement from company leaders, the nonprofit community suffers," she said. "As the former campaign chair for United Arts, I saw first-hand the impact to an organization's fundraising when a board seat is vacated and, subsequently, the corporate support is cut."

While it still has representatives on some boards, such as the Orlando Museum of Art, Lockheed acknowledges that its contribution to the arts community has dropped in recent years. But that is because of a change in priorities taking place companywide, not just in Central Florida, company officials said.